Do you feel dry, sore and irritated eyes or do you experience blurry vision and have to wear prescription glasses to correct optical defects? If yes, then you really need to work on your daily diet to incorporate some healthy and nutritious foods for eye health.
While wearing blue light glasses can save you from a lot of trouble, eating healthy food will boost your immunity to combat prevalent eye diseases and conditions like cataract, Computer Eye Syndrome, glaucoma and Age-Related Macular Degeneration.
Best foods for eye health
Oranges: Oranges, like many other citrus fruits, are rich in Vitamin C. However, it’s not just this vitamin that makes oranges one of the best fruits to include in your diet. Studies reveal that other nutrients and antioxidants like beta-carotene, present in orange are the key to eye health.
Blueberries: Blueberries contain anthocyanins. This particular element is more than just essential for eyes- it lowers the blood cholesterol, thus correcting blurry vision, it prevents blockage in the arteries feeding blood to the eye cells and it also helps to strengthen the eye blood vessels.
Carrots: Apart from looking for cheap glasses with blue light coating, eating local vegetables like carrots is other inexpensive ways to protect eyes.Carrots are a storehouse of lutein and beta carotene. While lutein aids in shielding against damages caused by high intensity light, beta carotene acts as a precursor for the production of the very essential Vitamin A.
Bell peppers: These bells store almost everything that you need for eye health- Vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, beta carotene and other carotenoids. You get the most amount of Vitamin C per calorie through bell peppers.
Green leafy vegetables: Green leaves like kale, spinach, collard greens and lettuce are rich in Vitamin C and E. All these greens are rich in the two most important carotenoids for the eyes- lutein and zeaxanthin. Both of them are stored in a part of the eye called Macula which provides protection against light damage.
Legumes: Beans and legumes like black beans, kidney beans, and lentils are an excellent source of bioflavonoids and zinc. Both these help to lower the risk of age-related optical issues. Also, zinc is stored inside the eye to protect the eye cells from light damage.
Nuts: Nuts like almonds, peanuts, cashews and pistachio can boost eye health and overall body immunity. They contain Vitamin E and Omega-3 that are beneficial for fighting against “free radicals” or unstable molecules causing harm to the eye cells.
Preventing blue light damage
You must have come across commercials for blue light coating on men’s glasses and women’s glasses and wondered why you would need those blue light blocking glasses. Here is the answer-
What is blue light?
Here are some science lessons from high school- sunlight is not a yellow-coloured light wave but a spectrum of seven colours, all of them that we see in the rainbow. This spectrum is divided into two parts- the visible and the invisible spectrum. While violet and indigo colours form the invisible spectrum, the other five colours make up the visible spectrum. Being the last colour of the visible spectrum, blue rays move in a straight line with a damagingly high wave energy. Due to the high energy, blue rays can cause severe damage and even result in chronic diseases.
How does blue light affect us?
Cataract: The human eye lens absorbs short blue waves falling on it to block them from reaching the light sensitive retina. However, during this absorption it damages itself by inducing the production of substances and derivatives and turning itself yellow opaque.
Macular degeneration: The retina of our eyes is extremely sensitive to light rays. When high-intensity blue rays from tech screens fall on the retinal screen, they induce toxic chemical reactions in the cells that gradually deteriorate the tissues.
How can we avoid blue light damage?
Limit screen time: Prolonged tech screen hours put unbearable stress on your eyes. Take a break of a minute after every twenty minutes to avoid eye strain.
Wear blue light glasses: Anti-blue light glasses are an excellent tool to block blue light from falling on our cornea. You can ask your optician to add an anti-blue light coating on the lenses of your spectacles.